The highly anticipated matchup in the national championship game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament between the UConn Huskies and the Purdue Boilermakers, as expected, attracted a large crowd at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. In fact, nearly 75,000 people packed themselves inside the stadium to witness the colossal showdown of the two No. 1 seeds., per the official X feed of the 2024 NCAA Tournament Final Four.
“Tonight's #NationalChampionship attendance is 74,423 – the third highest in championship game history. The two-day #MFinalFour attendance is 149,143 is the fifth-highest ever.”
For comparison, the women's national championship game featuring Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday attracted 18,300 people. However, the Hawkeyes and the Gamecocks surely would have gathered more people to watch the game in person if it had been held in a larger building. The Iowa vs South Carolina finals game was played at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
UConn vs Purdue carried great storylines into NCAA Tournament title game
The storylines heading into the men's national championship game were certainly big reasons why UConn vs Purdue garnered that many live viewers. Of course, the allure of experiencing a national title game inside such a unique infrastructure for a basketball game added event's charm. But at the end of the day, it's what UConn and Purdue were all about that grabbed the attention of people the most.
The Huskies entered the contest as the overall No. 1 seed and with the chance of becoming just the first team since the Florida Gators of the 2000s to win back-to-back national men's basketball NCAA Tournament titles. The Boilermakers, on the other hand, were looking to complete a giant turnaround from being a top seed that got eliminated by a No. 16 school in the first round of the 2023 edition of March Madness to winning it all in the following Big Dance.
The UConn vs Pudue matchup also featured two of the best amateur big men in the game today in Huskies star Donovan Clingan and Boilermakers giant Zach Edey, both coached by elite basketball tacticians; UConn had Dan Hurley calling the shots, while Purdue had Matt Painter roaming the sidelines.
And when it was all said and done on the court, in front of all those fans in attendance, it was UConn who emerged as the last team standing in the Big Dance, with Hurley's squad successfully defending their title and repeating as national champs in a 75-60 win over Edey and the Boilermakers of the Big Ten.
Huskies left no doubts with a masterclass in win vs Boilermakers
Just like they did in the previous games in the tourney, the Huskies flexed their muscles on both ends of the court against Purdue. The Boilermakers did a fine job early on in the contest, as they had success feeding Edey with the ball, but once the Huskies figured things out, there was no looking back for Hurley's team.
UConn shot 48.4 percent from the field and limited the Boilermakers to only 44.4 percent. While the difference doesn't seem to be drastic, it's worth noting that Purdue only got 54 attempts from the field, while UConn had 62. The Huskies outrebounded the Boilermakers, 35-28, and were plus-5 on the offensive glass (14-9).
Tristen Newton paced the Huskies with 20 points, while Stephon Castle had 15 points. Clingan and Cam Spencer each added 11 points for UConn, which finished their journey in the NCAA Tournament having defeated all six March Madness opponents by a staggering average scoring margin of 23.3 points.
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